Positive Action

Gwent Police are particularly keen to receive applications from people that have a Black, Asian or other ethnic minority background (including non-visible ethnic minorities such as Czech, Slovak, Polish, Gypsy/Traveller people).

Please contact [email protected] if you would like more details about the positive action that we are taking in this area. Further information about how and why we are taking positive action can also be found below.

Introduction

Gwent Police has a strong commitment to valuing difference and encouraging inclusivity - both within our organisation and through the service we provide. One of the ways that we can ensure we deliver a service that meets the needs of the public is to have a workforce that is representative of our communities. This means ensuring that we recruit people that have different characteristics, whether that is gender, race, religion, disability, age, sexual orientation or gender identity. A diverse workforce means that Gwent Police can provide a better service to the public through Officers that have a range of skills and life experiences.

The Law

As part of our Equality Duty set out in the Equality Act 2010, Gwent Police has a responsibility to remove any disadvantages experienced by people with ‘Protected Characteristics’ (this means gender, race, religion, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy and maternity and marriage and civil partnership). We also have a duty to take steps to meet the needs of people with Protected Characteristics where these are different from the needs of other people, and to encourage people from protected groups to participate in public life or activities where their participation is disproportionately low.

What does this mean?

When it comes to recruitment, this means that we need to understand any barriers to joining the Police for people that share Protected Characteristics and work to remove them. It also means that we need to understand the demographic of our workforce (for example, how many ethnic minority Officers that we have) and if numbers are lower than they should be, work to change this.

What is Positive Action?

Positive Action refers to the initiatives that we will undertake to remove barriers and encourage under-represented groups to apply to join Gwent Police. There are several ways that we will do this, including (but not exclusively):

Targeting our advertising at communities that are currently under-represented

Offering contact with an existing Police Officer to learn from their experiences

Does this mean giving a job to someone over someone else on the basis of a Protected Characteristic?

Police Forces can use positive action in deciding to appoint an applicant or candidate from a group which shares a protected characteristic, if they reasonably believe that the group is disadvantaged or under-represented in the workforce, or if their participation in an activity is disproportionately low. However, Police Forces must not have a general policy of treating people with the relevant protected characteristic more favourably in connection with recruitment or promotion.

Who are we targeting?

At the moment there are no Police Forces that have a workforce that is reflective of the ethnicity of the communities they serve. In Gwent, we have an ethnic minority population of around 3.9%, rising to 10% in Newport. However, our ethnic minority Police Officers only equate to 1.55% of the workforce. This means we have a particular responsibility to encourage and support applications from ethnic minority communities. We are also particularly interested in applications from people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

Who does it apply to?

Individuals with a protected characteristic who suffer some sort of disadvantage because of that characteristic or are disproportionately under-represented. These characteristics include:

Age

Disability

Gender reassignment

Marriage and civil partnership

Pregnancy and maternity

Race

Religion or belief

Sex

Sexual orientation

How do I find out more?

If you want to find out more about Positive Action initiatives please email: [email protected]